Upcoming Games

[Mudface]

40 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

That ACG actually said that metacritic.com is unreliable due to linked to a lot of the review sites that pay to be included whereas opencritic.com is independent therefore more representative but relies on donations to operate. Since learning that I rarely use metacritic.com. It's handy though for TV and movie releases

Metacritic is pretty pointless, it just aggregates scores and gives an arbitrary weighting depending on how reliable they think the site is. User ratings on there are particularly useless as they often get brigaded by dickheads either voting a game up or down for tribal reasons. Steam user reviews are by far the more reliable, especially as there's the option to exclude periods where heavy downvoting happened for non-game reasons.

 

Apparently, Bethesda wrote that Obsidian had to get at least an 85% Metacritic rating in order to earn a bonus for Fallout: Las Vegas. They got 84%, and nearly went under.

 

Edit: this is a great review... https://darkzero.co.uk/ign-removes-210-football-manager-review-and-apologises/

 

What sports fan doesn't want to take control of his favorite team and guide it to a championship, or, better yet, a long string of championships? Well, if it means playing Worldwide Soccer Manager, you can count me in that number.

Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 gives gamers the chance to manage and coach 5,000 soccer teams from 50 countries around the globe, giving them the chance to manage every aspect of their team's roster, field questions from reporters at their team's press conferences, and coach their teams in real time as each simulated game unfolds. What it doesn't do, more importantly, is provide any compelling reason to keep "playing."

Although the game's database of more than 350,000 real-life soccer players is certainly impressive, only the most diehard fans of the sport would be able to appreciate having such a massive pool of talent to sift through, and the casual fan would almost certainly find the task overwhelming – I did.

The game's incredibly complex menu system is very difficult to navigate, even with the on-screen help box directing you through the process. In short, this game is extremely difficult to simply pick up and play. If you're unfamiliar with the franchise expect to spend a significant amount of time simply trying to figure out how to navigate the menus.

Worldwide Soccer Manager's presentation problems don't end there though, once you finally make it to your team's first game you'll find that the player renderings and animations are awful, and the stadiums you play in lack any kind of personality or detail. Each field is bordered by fences and what appear to be unfinished stands, which don't have any fans in them. And, when the ball is kicked off of the pitch, it passes smoothly through the surrounding fences, right through the stands, and disappears from view only to return to the field in the same fashion, appearing magically from the stands and passing through the fences (and goals) on its way back into play.

Then there's the sound, or lack thereof. There is no soundtrack that plays while you work in the game's menus, which you'll spend the vast majority of your time in this game doing. There is no audio narration to accompany your participation in press conferences, even though your options for how to respond to each question is incredibly limited. There is no audio commentary to accompany the action in the simulated game's you watch/coach. In fact, the only sound we found in the entire game was the tones of fans cheering as each simulated game played out – which only detracts from the game's feel of authenticity seeing as there are no fans rendered in the stands.

As far as traditional gameplay goes, there really isn't any in Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009. Apart from managing your roster and coaching your team, there really isn't anything to do at all. So, unless you really enjoy clicking on menu buttons, you'll find your interaction with this game extremely disappointing.

However, if you're a big footie fan and big fan of sports simulation, you'll be extremely impressed with the depth of Worldwide Soccer Manager, which allows you to control just about every facet of your team and draw from a player pool that is simply mindboggling.

Closing Comments

This game obviously aims to provide the deepest soccer simulation experience possible for the sport’s most passionate and informed fans, but it offers little to nothing that would appeal to a casual fan of the sport or to the average videogame enthusiast. The menus are complex and difficult to navigate, graphics are terrible, the sound is non-existent and there is no traditional gameplay to speak of. I couldn’t imagine why anybody would prefer Worldwide Soccer Manager to FIFA 09 or Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Mudface said:

Metacritic is pretty pointless, it just aggregates scores and gives an arbitrary weighting depending on how reliable they think the site is. User ratings on there are particularly useless as they often get brigaded by dickheads either voting a game up or down for tribal reasons. Steam user reviews are by far the more reliable, especially as there's the option to exclude periods where heavy downvoting happened for non-game reasons.

 

Apparently, Bethesda wrote that Obsidian had to get at least an 85% Metacritic rating in order to earn a bonus for Fallout: Las Vegas. They got 84%, and nearly went under.

 

Edit: this is a great review... https://darkzero.co.uk/ign-removes-210-football-manager-review-and-apologises/

 

 

 

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[TheDrowningMan]

The Sony-developed MLB The Show 21 is coming to Xbox for the first time this year and it’s just been announced for Game Pass on day one. 
 

 

[Allan]

The Day Before

 

 

[skend04]

 

Elden Ring trailer finally here.

[Elite]

On 09/04/2021 at 18:46, Dynamite said:

The Day Before

 

 

That looks ace.

 

Looks like Days Gone with a bit of a Fallout vibe.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Looks good. I loved Days Gone ive played it 3 times. Blows my mind how it got bad reviews even with its earlier technical faults.

[Guest]

Sniper elite and resident evil 4 are being made for the Oculus quest as vr titles. Resident evil 4 is a masterpiece and seeing it in vr is going to be boss. 

[Elite]

1 hour ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Looks good. I loved Days Gone ive played it 3 times. Blows my mind how it got bad reviews even with its earlier technical faults.

Agreed, it was brilliant and a travesty that there's going to be no sequel.

[Bobby Hundreds]

26 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Sniper elite and resident evil 4 are being made for the Oculus quest as vr titles. Resident evil 4 is a masterpiece and seeing it in vr is going to be boss. 

I started playing the last resident evil in VR walked in to the dark old shack and went "nope" 

[Mudface]

1 hour ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

I started playing the last resident evil in VR walked in to the dark old shack and went "nope" 

Was that 7 or 8? I've heard a number of people say they literally couldn't play 7 because they got too scared.

[Bobby Hundreds]

3 minutes ago, Mudface said:

Was that 7 or 8? I've heard a number of people say they literally couldn't play 7 because they got too scared.

7. I dont think there is a scarier media format than games when done right due to the immersion but VR is another level.

[Mudface]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

7. I dont think there is a scarier media format than games when done right due to the immersion but VR is another level.

Yeah, I find it hard to play scary games as it is, no way could I play them in VR. I really hate jump scares- I got caught by the alien in Rescue on Fractalus when I was a kid, and it seems to have had a lasting effect-

 

 

Looks like nothing now, but I'm pretty sure this was the very first jump scare in a game. I was leaning down to press a key on the Atari when it happened and my head was right next to the TV speaker. Nearly hit the roof.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

I started playing the last resident evil in VR walked in to the dark old shack and went "nope" 

I tried playing Resident Evil 7 on PS4 last year and had trouble with that. On VR I think I'd be sectioned within an hour. 

[Mudface]

I'm playing RE2 Remake at the moment- with a walkthrough because I'm a complete fucking pussy.

 

I never realised Resident Evil games were so goofy to be honest, I always got the impression the early ones were the Exorcist of horror games with terrifying gameplay where you're relentlessly chased. Instead, I'm shooting zombies in the kneecaps because they're bullet sponges and don't die when you headshot them, and laughing as I run past them to spend half an hour running fetch quests to get a knife so I can slit some tape. And Mr X is stalking me, unless I go into a safe room where he's somehow not allowed in, or just dodge past him and pull a moonie before he can catch up.

 

Bizarre.

[Guest]

Elden Ring, the next release by From Software by the team behind Bloodborne and Dark Souls. Also contributions from George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones.

 

 

 

Preorder for £39.95 (everywhere else seems to be £59.95)

 

https://www.thegamecollection.net/elden-ring-ps4?sqr=Elden%2520ring&&tduid=5cc7f9299fbdccfd4cdeeb5a2aacd4c1#sqr:(q[elden ring])

[Mudface]

1 hour ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Elden Ring, the next release by From Software by the team behind Bloodborne and Dark Souls. Also contributions from George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones.

 

 

 

Preorder for £39.95 (everywhere else seems to be £59.95)

 

https://www.thegamecollection.net/elden-ring-ps4?sqr=Elden%2520ring&&tduid=5cc7f9299fbdccfd4cdeeb5a2aacd4c1#sqr:(q[elden ring])

I'm surprised that fucker's got time what with him working full steam on finishing the GoT books...

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Mudface said:

I'm surprised that fucker's got time what with him working full steam on finishing the GoT books...

Like they'll ever get finished. I reckon he sees that as a poisoned chalice after the show went off in its own direction after series 3/ book 3.

[Mudface]

I really enjoyed the first game, so hopefully this one will be even better-

 

 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Mudface said:

I really enjoyed the first game, so hopefully this one will be even better-

 

 

I just picked up the first one in a playstation digital sale, very cheap. Looking forward to trying it out, gets universal praise. 

[Mudface]

15 minutes ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

I just picked up the first one in a playstation digital sale, very cheap. Looking forward to trying it out, gets universal praise. 

It's a real sleeper hit- good story, characters and atmosphere and some nice stealth puzzle sections. 

[Elite]

My 5 year old loves Fenyx Rising as I can put it on super easy mode and he can just roam around fighting monsters. Are there any other similar games that are child friendly with little challenge? I was thinking Assassin's Creed but slitting throats with hidden blades isn't exactly child friendly!

[Paul]

27 minutes ago, Elite said:

My 5 year old loves Fenyx Rising as I can put it on super easy mode and he can just roam around fighting monsters. Are there any other similar games that are child friendly with little challenge? I was thinking Assassin's Creed but slitting throats with hidden blades isn't exactly child friendly!

All the Ratchet and Clank games are ace. 

[Elite]

2 minutes ago, Paul said:

All the Ratchet and Clank games are ace. 

I want open-world where he can just roam about.

[RedKnight]

Well you really want Breath of the Wild on Switch.